CHAPTER VII

THE PAPER EXPERT

For a moment Helen Morton stared at Joe Strong as
though not quite sure whether or not he was in his
proper mind. Then, seeing plainly that he was
in earnest, she seemed to shrink away from him, as
he had noticed her shrink away, for a moment, from
the burned man suffering there in the hospital.

“What’s the matter, Helen?” asked
Joe, trying to speak lightly. “Don’t
you want to see some more sensational acts in the show?”

“Yes, but not that kind,” she answered
with a shudder she could not conceal. “Oh,
Joe, if you were to—­” She could not
go on. Her breast heaved painfully.

“Now look here, Helen!” he exclaimed with
good-natured roughness, “that isn’t any
way to look at matters; especially when we both depend
on sensations for making our living.

“You know, as well as I do, that in this business
we have to take risks. That’s what makes
our acts go. You take a risk every time you perform
with Rosebud. You might slip, the horse might
slip, and you’d be hurt. Now is this new
act I am thinking of perfor—­”

“Yes, I may take risks, Joe!” interrupted
Helen. “But they are perfectly natural
risks, and I have more than an even chance. You
might just as well say you take a risk walking along
the street, and so you do. An elevated train
might fall on you or an auto run up on the sidewalk.
The risks I take in the act with Rosebud are only
natural ones, and really shouldn’t be counted.
But if you start to become a fire-eater—­Oh,
Joe, think of that poor fellow in the hospital!”

“He didn’t get that way from eating fire—­or
pretending to eat it—­for the amusement
of the public. He might just as easily have been
burned the way he is by lighting the kitchen stove
for his wife to get breakfast. His accident was
entirely outside of his act, you might say. Why,
I use lighted candles in some of my tricks. Now,
if some one knocked over a candle, and it caused a
fire on the stage and I was burned, would you want
me to give up being a magician?”

“Oh, no, I suppose not,” said Helen slowly.
“But fire is so dangerous. And to think
of putting it in your mouth! How can you do it,
Joe? Oh, it can’t be done!”

“Oh, there’s a trick about it. I
haven’t mastered all the details yet, so as
to give a smooth performance, but I can make an attempt
at it.”

“Joe Strong! do you mean to say you know how
to eat fire?” demanded Helen, and now her eyes
showed her astonishment.

“Well, not exactly eat it, though that is the
term used. But I do know how to do it. I
learned, in a rudimentary way, when I was with Professor
Rosello—­the first man who taught me sleight-of-hand.
He had one fire-eating act, but it didn’t amount
to much. He told me the secret of it, such as
it was.